IMRIS Inc., is packing up its Winnipeg operation and moving to Minneapolis.

The company has 129 employees in Winnipeg where it conducts all of the company’s research and development, customer service, manufacturing and finance and administration.

A company official said close to half of the 129 Winnipeg employees will be asked to move to Minneapolis.

The ground-breaking Winnipeg medical device company that sells multi-million dollar magnetic resonance image-guided surgical devices to some of the most prestigious hospital around the world already had a significant presence in Minneapolis. Its sales and marketing operations are centred there as well as extensive regulatory affairs operations.

The company currently has three new products in development that are working their way through the U.S. regulatory approval process.

IMRIS’s technology is based on work that was done at the National Research Council’s Institute of Biodiagnostics which is itself in the process of shutting down.

In remarks to analysts following the release of its third quarter results, CEO David Graves said the move was being made to position the company to take advantage of opportunities that lie ahead.

Graves said, "(In Minneapolis the company can) access a large pool of talented personnel, a qualified ecosystem of partners and suppliers who understand costs, quality and the regulatory needs of the medical device market that is right in the middle of our largest customer market."

Graves said the move is scheduled to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2013.

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